Article 35-A is integral to the Constitution of India and defending it “can’t be anti-national”, National Conference working president Omar Abdullah said on Tuesday and alleged that BJP was “making the constitutional proviso issue a Hindu versus Muslim and the State versus rest of the country issue after falling short of arguments to justify their moves.”

Addressing National Conference workers at Darhal, Omar asked that how can fingers be raised against National Conference for opposing the “clandestine” moves of repealing Article 35-A which is a constitutional guarantee to the people of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh for “preserving their distinct identity and dignity, irrespective of their religion or caste.” He accused the BJP of “dividing people on the basis of region and religion to further its anti-people agenda.”

“As long as National Conference flag is fluttering high across Jammu and Kashmir, Article 35-A will remain part of the Constitution of India,” he said.
“Article 35-A reflects our identity; it allows us to shape our destiny and we cannot therefore let it go,” he said and asked people to “close their ranks for defending this, come what may.”

Omar cautioned people not to remain complacent on this sensitive issue, “especially as the BJP is working on a planned strategy drawn as back as the conception of the PDP in 2000.”

“The pen and ink-pot party had been conceived to further the agenda of RSS and BJP in J&K,” he said.

Omar reminded the people “how fiercely PDP had campaigned against BJP in 2014 assembly and parliamentary elections, claiming that this was the only party that can stop the Modi juggernaut in Jammu and Kashmir.”

“No sooner the fractured results became public, the PDP aligned with the BJP and formed the government,” he said.

“By facilitating BJP to make inroads in Jammu and Kashmir and allowing its dream of joining the government come true, PDP has betrayed the trust of people,” he said, adding that if the PDP is “allowed to make compromises, one after another, the day is not far when the BJP could not even need their support to rule the state.”
Therefore, he said, safeguarding Article 35-A is a “foremost responsibility of all, as it is in the larger interests of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

”Omar blamed PDP for “submitting to whims and wishes of the BJP, be it GST or the National Food Security Act.” He termed the implementation of GST as “tremendous setback to the state’s fiscal autonomy and saidthe NFSA has broken the backbone of poor.”

“I had opposed the implementation of the NFSA despite frequent demands by our then alliance partner, the Congress, in the government,” he claimed.

“By agreeing to implement the NFSA, the PDP has forced people of the state into submission and deprived them of bare minimum ration,” Omar said, adding that the ration crisis has been perpetuated by PDP to “armtwist people into compliance after widespread anti-incumbency and discontent due to the PDP-BJP government’s total failure on all fronts”.